An American in Montreal discusses food, travel, films, and adjusting to life north of the border.

Buttermilk pancakes

I was shocked, shocked to hear my husband ordering pancakes at an Eggspectation instead of his usual blt. I had made pancakes for myself while he was away on business because I had thought that he didn’t like them. Well, I decided to make them this morning, to see if mine measured up to the restaurant’s. Also, it would use more buttermilk, which is always a good incentive.

I used a Martha Stewart recipe. I try to write down all of the recipes that I use (successfully, that is), so that I don’t have to resize it for two people. A full-sized binder was too large, and so far this half-sized binder has been working well for me. I had to do a little extra legwork to get the half-sized sheet protectors (ordered them online and had them delivered to a hotel we were staying at in Portland), but it was worth it.

frozen leftover bacon, wrapped in plastic wrap and foil

Since we were going to eat these as lunch instead of breakfast, I decided we needed some protein. I had some bacon saved in the freezer, which was just enough for the two of us. A full package of bacon is usually too big for two people, so I usually use what I need first, then freeze the rest in an accordion fold of plastic wrap so that the slices don’t touch each other, and wrap the package in foil. It freezes beautifully, and when I need to use it, I can just unfold and pry out one slice of bacon at a time. I also sometimes cook the whole package and freeze the unneeded cooked bacon. Usually, I cook the bacon in the oven. When I was just starting out, I used a small George Foreman grill, which I’ve since given away. It reminded me of the big cast iron skillet that my mother uses to make bacon, which had a reservoir on the side to collect the fat. Unfortunately, my little sandwich maker was not the same. The grease could drain out into the waiting plastic dish, however I found it inconvenient to empty that dish of hot fat in-process and the grill was too small for the bacon anyway- I had to curl each slice into an unattractive J. And they ended up slightly overcooked because I couldn’t control the heat.

unwrapping the frozen bacon to bake.

The best way that I’ve found to cook bacon, especially larger quantities of bacon like a whole package, is to bake it on a cookie sheet. The bacon is cooked all the way, it’s perfectly straight, and the clean up is the easiest. You don’t have to watch it and you don’t have to empty the baking sheet halfway through cooking, even for a whole package of bacon. I suppose it would be best to rest the slices on a rack while baking, but I’ve only recently acquired a wire rack small enough

crispy bacon! (yes, there were 5 slices. I couldn't resist and ate one right away - shhhh!)

to fit into the cookie sheet, and I don’t want to bother with the extra clean up work – baked-on grease is hard to clean off of racks! The bacon is fine and crispy if I drain it on paper towels immediately after cooking. I line the baking sheet with foil and arrange the bacon on top. It’s ok if they touch each other a little, since bacon shrinks when it’s cooked. It goes into a cold oven, which I then set to about 325F or even 300F. Bacon needs to be cooked slowly or it will burn before rending. Five slices took less than 30 minutes for slightly soft bacon, but more bacon takes longer.

First two pancakes.

I bought a cheap nonstick skillet specifically to make Chinese chive dumplings, which kept sticking to the bottom of the stainless steel Cuisinart skillet. I prefer to use the Cuisinart because the bottom is flatter and I don’t have to be as careful about avoiding scratching it. I decided to try using the nonstick pan for the pancakes because I couldn’t remember if the pancakes stick to the pan or not and I didn’t want to be embarrassed with nothing to feed my husband. When it was all done, I think I will use the Cuisinart next time, which cooks more evenly. I think that with enough grease, the pancakes won’t stick.

bacon and pancakes smothered in butter and maple syrup. Of course, the burnt one is on the top for the picture.

I started out using butter, but then decided to try using bacon fat from my freshly cooked bacon. I found that the ones fried with butter tasted like butter, but I couldn’t taste the bacon fat. The bacon fat also caused the pancakes to brown quicker than the butter pancakes. I kept the already made pancakes warm on a small plate in the oven on 175F. They tended to shrink a little and lose some of their fluffiness, but as long as the edges were a little crispy going into the oven, they stayed crispy. Of course, this final shot of the plated dish has the most burnt pancake on top. We enjoyed with butter and maple syrup.

this is what we have to put up with at every meal. all attempts with shooing and squirting with water have failed.

The cat tried to enjoy, too, but had to remain content with enjoying from a distance.

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Nota bene

Restaurant reviews will be updated annually from each initial review as experienced. If the quality of the resto dips or soars before its yearly report, I will post a new review to reflect as such. Minor updates will be added to the original post.

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